Morgan Stanley Has Lowered Expectations for Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) Stock Price

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) had its price objective lowered by Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $85.00 in a research report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the technology retailer’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Best Buy from $95.00 to $89.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Telsey Advisory Group cut their target price on Best Buy from $110.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com cut Best Buy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Guggenheim cut their target price on Best Buy from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Best Buy in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.50.

Best Buy Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of BBY opened at $75.36 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $85.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $90.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.88, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. Best Buy has a 1-year low of $69.29 and a 1-year high of $103.71.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 4th. The technology retailer reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $13.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.69 billion. Best Buy had a return on equity of 45.93% and a net margin of 3.01%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.72 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Best Buy will post 6.18 EPS for the current year.

Best Buy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be given a $0.95 dividend. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.04%. This is a boost from Best Buy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 25th. Best Buy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.99%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Best Buy news, CFO Matthew M. Bilunas sold 69,166 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.46, for a total value of $6,049,258.36. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 92,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,052,442.20. This trade represents a 42.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.59% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Best Buy by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,982,608 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $1,971,908,000 after acquiring an additional 191,161 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Best Buy by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,560,368 shares of the technology retailer’s stock worth $562,880,000 after acquiring an additional 395,415 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Best Buy during the 4th quarter valued at about $514,483,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Best Buy by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,092,820 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $436,210,000 after buying an additional 239,840 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Best Buy by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,824,425 shares of the technology retailer’s stock valued at $328,136,000 after buying an additional 459,353 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.96% of the company’s stock.

About Best Buy

Best Buy Co, Inc engages in the retail of technology products in the United States, Canada, and international. Its stores provide computing and mobile phone products, such as desktops, notebooks, and peripherals; mobile phones comprising related mobile network carrier commissions; networking products; tablets covering e-readers; smartwatches; and consumer electronics consisting of digital imaging, health and fitness products, portable audio comprising headphones and portable speakers, and smart home products, as well as home theaters, which includes home theater accessories, soundbars, and televisions.